Slashdot Mirror
Texas Student Attends School As a Robot
kkleiner writes "Freshman Lyndon Baty's immune system is so fragile he can't risk being surrounded by people his own age, yet he attends classes at his high school in Knox City, Texas every day. All thanks to a robot. The Vgo telepresence platform is a four foot tall bot on wheels with a small screen, camera, speakers and microphone at the top. Baty logs into the robot remotely from his home, using his PC and a webcam to teleconference into his classes. Baty can drive Vgo around his school, switching between classes just like regular students. For a boy that has spent much of his life sick and isolated from his peers, Vgo not only represents a chance at a better education, it's also an opportunity for freedom and comradery."
You misspelled "Sheldon Cooper".
The first step toward surrogates?
Little steps like this will only help foster the coming ubiquity of robots around us in our every day life. Very cool times (mostly).
I am a gelatinous orb from Alpha Centauri. I visit Earth as a robot disguised as a human. I use dial-up to post to slashdot, though.
Why don't you just make 10 louder and make 10 be the top number...and make that a little louder?
No playing hookie to get out of school. Do not want.
He's made of Sex! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGSVYgcy24Q
"A bubble boy?"
"He lives in a bubble!"
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
My mother is one of those people who is very skeptical about the positive influence technology has had on our society. To her the more automated and advanced our culture is the less productive we are. She only ever hears about massive digital consumer data losses, or crashed/hacked ATM's. While I think we all agree that technology isn't always the silver bullet we want it to be, I do think examples like this help to demonstrate that we really are making progress. Even 10 years ago this poor young man would be totally isolated from the classroom learning atmosphere. While we still have a long way to go, when I speak with my disabled friends, they often remind me of how much innovation has improved their lives even in just the last 20 years.
Good luck getting a girl to climb into the back seat of a car with this "robot". The prom could also be awkward. On the bright side, the robot probably doesn't have to attend the mandatory PE classes.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I think this is a great thing and it's nice to see something like this being given a chance. However, I wonder how long this thing is going to be functional inside of a school. With kids in the halls traveling between classes, weather, random bullying, how long will it take before this thing is broken? I can't imagine it will survive being knocked over more than a couple times.
I've been following the robotics telepresence scene ever since I stumbled upon Anybots whilst paroozing YouTube. I really think telepresence is a market that can fund more research and development into humanoid robots (at the very least, it draws less eyebrow raises as the sexbot industry). We have a lot of companies making money off specialized, robotic floor cleaners and lawn mowers, but if we really want to develop an all-purpose robot that can handle a lot of the work that we humans can, we need to put R&D into things like dynamically balancing on two legs, controlling limbs with dozens of actuators, and mapping motion commands in those limbs to sensor readings.
I know there are a lot of companies working on these problems already, but in order for them to remain, they have to get funded somehow. I honestly think telepresence robtos may be one of the best ways for companies to generate revenue while working on more advanced stuff. I hope to see more in the coming years!
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
Won't it get bullied?
Twin heat-seeking Hunter-Killer missiles and swivel-mounted gatling guns on either side of the screen.
Immolation is the sincerest form of flattery.
I think I would pay good money to see some bullies picking on a robot. LOL
"Never give up, for that is just the time and place when the tide will change." -Harriet Beecher Stowe ^_^
As far as an education goes, isn't this the equivalent of external study?
When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."
At first, I thought the whole idea was just too weird. But then I thought about how kids interact with each other in Facebook chat rooms, and I'd say that it probably feels pretty natural both to Lyndon Baty and his classmates.
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
...I would expect....
doesn't mean he can't cause trouble!
Yeah, that just happened.
How did this not happen first in Japan :P? Oh well, perhaps they'll catch on, then all those sick girl stories can quit their whining and go to school anyways. ;P.
He may have an unfair advantage with sports, being as the robot should not tire or feel pain.
...I just hope there isn't some idiot that decides to bust it up or do anything else stupid to it out of malice.
Oregon has a specific exclusion for schools, but if you leave the mike open in most other contexts, you run afoul of the wiretapping statutes.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Personally, I think you're more likely to get funding to build sexbots. There's *how many* Japanese companies that build multi-thousand-dollar sex-dolls already? And there's at least two in the USA that make high-end sex-dolls (and too many making cheap inflatables)...
Although there may be eyebrow-raising, most (male) people are secretly rubbing their hands together (and other things) at the prospect of an autonomous sex-bot. And while telepresence may be nice, whoever corners the market for sex-bots is going to make Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg look like paupers.
Although you may not believe it, Futurama has it right. Sex-bots might be declared illegal in some future, because it will seriously impact reproduction, it may lead to low number of human to human pairings as well as having half the population (women) wondering how they are going to compete. See: Chobits/Persecoms
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
"Okay class, I'd like you all to welcome our new overl-- er, "student" Lyndon.
Lyndon, is there anything you'd like to say to the class?"
"DEE STROY"
Reminds me of this: http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/posters/cfca/
if his classmates didn't keep sticking "Disconnect my batteries" signs on his back.
Here's another case, in Moscow, reported earlier : http://www.news.com.au/technology/leukaemia-sufferer-stepan-supin-stays-home-sends-robot-to-school/story-e6frfro0-1225992845324
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
. . . for mockery and bullying.
"No, NO! Not the wire cutters!"
"I'm not a battlebot! I'm not a battlebot! Please take me out of the arena I'm not . . ." ggzzzzzZZZZZ-CRASH!
"OK, who put caltrops under Lyndon's Bot's wheels?"
Is it just for a PC? I think i saw at least 2 or 3 people using macs during that infomercial. Unintended?
When I was in the 3rd grade there was a boy who had had polio and teleconference into class. This was in 1958, the phone company even back then had some teleconferencing tech. (It was an independent phone company btw not bell). So the difference is Video. And recall that in the mid 1960s ma bell was all hot over videophones (they were at disneyland and the worlds fair among other places). So at that time it was just a question of cost the tech existed. Now again here it may be that the costs have decreased enough that its economically justifiable.
Check that robot for slime, STAT!
why didn't they just set up video tele-conferencing equipment instead? The bandwidth and equipment should be easily available, I gotta think that it would be a cheaper solution and get the same effect. What am I missing here?
"Hey, I know what we're gonna do today." -- Phineas Flynn
I recall a time when i made a hockey player at my high school look extraordinarily stupid once in class - not a difficult thing to accomplish for that particular jock - and he retaliated after class by tripping me in the hallway from behind. If similar action was taken against this robot the consequences could be costly...
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Bubble boy syndrome can be cured with gene therapy. Why is this kid still sick?
They attempted a similar robot when John Travolta came down with this affliction in the 80s. They couldn't teach the robot the hand jive so the whole project was scrapped.
Now we know what happened to Robot Jones.
I used to attend as a zombie. Especially those 8 am classes in Differential Equations.
Obi-Wan: "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were sudden
"it's creepy."
Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals... except the weasel."
2 min in the sin bin is not much
I just want to be this kid's best friend. So I can say "My best friend is a robot".
Sounds about right. No disrespect.
Its a good thing people in Texas are tolerant of those different from them, this should go really smoothly.
I'm not reading all of that, but to imply that allowing students to wake up at 11am, watch their classes on TV, then email in their assignments is a replacement for actual school is insanity.
Considering the lack of academic prowess at Texas high schools, he's probably better off self-learning.
From the summary "he can't risk being surrounded by people his own age," implying that if he's surrounded by older or younger people that's just peachy. I realize this is slashdot, but come on!
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
Most of it is a quote from Brave New World.
Also, TLDR isn't an argument.
If it's good enough for bubble boy, why isn't it good enough for everyone else? Do you know what accreditation is?
Cartman, that's is a really cruel joke to play on Butters.
I'm amazed that he fell for it again.
So does Anonymous Coward have good karma?
You are like ze buzzing of flies to him.
This has already been done in Russia. Of course Russia no being a state of the US of A, most folks here would prefer to assume that they don't have modern technology, only bad 1970s hairdos and 1990s PCs....
I don't therefore I'm not.
...is the utter most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of! How pointless. What, he can't just do regular lessons by correspondence and use a webcam for video conferencing when necessary?
And really... His immune system is so fragile that he can't leave the house... Why would you even want to stay alive like that anyway?
sorry. evolution will kill him shortly. this is the kind of genetic nonsense that needs to be removed out of the human gene pool, obviously something is very physically incorrect with his biological makeup.
i might be pegged as a mean unkind heartless person...but individuals like this are meant to die at birth, who is going to want off spring with a person who carries genetic traits that can produce such compromised immune systems?
it's ridiculous to even begin to think this person is going to survive for any length of time in the modern world.
Anyone else just see a laptop on a roomba or is it just me?
Laptop with webcam = ~$350 cheap roomba = ~$150
Charging $5,000 + $1,200 per year "service contract" for $500 in hardware = PRICELESS
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
It would be interesting to see the result when a bully tries to give him a swirly.
Robot Overlords, etc., etc.
I guess he won't be making varsity football this year. Foozbal is for the devil anyway...
the thing ends up in the girls locker room,,,, damn software bugs..
"Interact naturally"? The display is quite low, about waist level. Bonus for the kid is the camera looks to be about boob level...
Hope Vgo doesn't take after his brother Vger, what a PITA that robot was
http://www.tv.com/the-big-bang-theory/the-cruciferous-vegetable-amplification/episode/1356071/summary.html?tag=ep_guide;summary
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
"But, it's a bug, not a feature!"
'When the Going gets Weird, the Weird turn Pro.' - Hunter S. Thompson
http://medportal.ru/mednovosti/news/2011/01/21/droid/
(translation http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=ru&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmedportal.ru%2Fmednovosti%2Fnews%2F2011%2F01%2F21%2Fdroid%2F )
A droid was attending Moscow school instead of sick by leikemia boy.
It's camaraderie, aspiring eds...
The japanese from 2005 called saying "me too" ;-p
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466375/
- manipulator hand
- back-vision camera for security
- stilt high resolution photo-camera (on manipulator hand), to make still HD photos, in addition to webcam feed
Actually, the expenses for repair befalling to the bullies and the fact that there's gonna be video and audio evidence against them seems to counter this trend. "Little brother is watching!" FTW!
Actually, I'd have to side your mom on this one particular case.
Don't get me wrong, technology is grrrreat for most other things, but I never understood WTH is the advantage of putting a computer on wheels instead of just teleconferencing. Be it for this kid, or that telecommuting guy who guides his "robot" avatar around the office to chat with people. The extra distraction of guiding a wheeled contraption around adds... exactly of value there? So the same people in high school who'd call one names just for having glasses or playing D&D get a chance to do that in front of a wheeled contraption following them around?
If you want him to get some social interaction over a computer screen and guiding one's virtual presence around the place, just get him WoW or whatever. No, I'm not saying it's an all around replacement for everyone, but if one is stuck in a room and must interact over a computer anyway, it beats putting a computer on wheels.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
But bullying relies on the fact that the victim can't escape. The guy here will be able to say, meh, I'm gonna shut down my connection to the robot now and do other things since I'm ALREADY SAFELY AT HOME... and if those idiots cause damage to the robot (which has a built-in CAMERA and can RECORD them, BTW), their parents will pay through the nose for it, and the school administrators will kick them out faster than they can say "public outcry".
That thing looks like a cross between a retarded Segway and a coat hanger, or a Dalek designed by Apple. Makes me want to get out my sonic screwdriver and reverse the polarity of its neutron flow. Is that the best 21st Century can do? An iDalek? EXTERMINATE!
Geeks are so full of shit that "beating the crap out of them" takes a whole new meaning.
I think the movie was called surrogates, with Bruce Willis, no?
I think this needs a couple of small upgrades to really work well in a class.
It should have a scanner/printer on the base.
Classes often involve handing in work, or getting hand-outs from a teacher. I suppose that they could always be e-mailed, but there might be a way to work in a real time testing situation so that he could take tests with real time interaction. e.g. write the answers on an ipad/android tablet with stylus which is then printed whole when he's finished.
I haven't seen it yet. (Has it even been released in region 1?) But wouldn't a movie about robotic telepresence have shades of the homunculus argument?
From imdb
Based on a true story, Tod Lubitch is born with a deficient immune system (which is unlike being born with AIDS). As such, he must spend the rest of his life in a completely sterile environment.
Later on in the movie, he attends a normal school by using a mobile device fitted with a monitor, microphone, and speakers.
If you're curious about the movie, this may make it more watchable...
Twinstiq, game news
We could have done this decades ago with cameras and TVs.... Why can't we just fix the problem with the boy's body? Oh, we can't. Because we DON'T have any advanced technology. Sorry, this is a pathetic story. Where is our real technology? Not just cameras...
open doors? I don't see it.
it's a white robot... (Texas)
"This makes too much sense. Sooner or later, any school board member, administrator, sate regulator, etc., will figure thatoutand come up with some rule that says it can't be done because it might foul up the attendance count, enable a student to learn something, or whatever. What does the robot add to the teleconferencing process? Hopefully any such equipment will be rugged enough. Now if they could just figure out how to engage students and teachers and actually teach any of them to reasd, write, balance a checkbook, etc. I've hired and represented a lot of high school students and too many who don't learn at home never really get good at reading, writing, math, etc.